And Now The Adventure Begins

Vancouver to San Francisco
Goodbye Snow & Rain, Hello Dampness

Our journey begins for this five continent mega trip. It was snowing a few days ago but today, we left Vancouver on a rainy morning. We are going to pick-up a car rental in Bellingham , Washington, USA.

We all have our frontiers to push and Bert had chosen to drive to San Francisco, California instead of flying. With seventeen (17) hours of driving ahead of us, and 948 miles / 1,526 kilometers, we have two days to kill before we board our ship. I'm trying to make sense of it, and I argued a lot with him about it saying, "Are you kidding?' to "You are crazy", when he first brought out the subject . But I realized that ti's the season for cancellation and since we are using airline passes, we're better off driving than flying. Also, since we get touched, squeezed and abused (verbally) prior to boarding Detention Airlines that charges for everything from checked and unchecked luggage to all add -on, then I agree that we really need a break from the not so friendly skies. 

My daughter Charelle and son-in-law Al,  are going to drive us over the border. To commemorate the occasion, we stop by Tim Horton's Coffee and have our last Canadian fix.

Ready? Set? Let's go!!!

Three big suitcases on the trunk, a duffel bag, 5 Nikon cameras, 2 computers, a GPS, I tablet, 1 Kindle reader, assorted footwear and clothes. A few minutes later and we're driving towards the border.

The next hour went by quickly. Taking the road has always been a sense of escape and comfort for both of us. We've taken many long road trips together . My most memorable road trip was when we picked picked up our Mercedes Benz in the factory in Germany in 1998. For four months, we drove all over Europe and then shipped our car from Bremerhaven, Germany to to Halifax, Nova Scotia. We flew to Boston, USA while waiting for the car to arrive and after it came and was cleared by the Canadian Customs, we drove it across Canada for more than two months. That was my initiation for long driving. We met and visited with friends and relatives and enjoyed so many National Parks along the way.

We've also driven thrice across USA from Vancouver to Key West and back. One time, we had to turn around quickly because Bert was called by Airbus for some consulting job in South Korea. Nothing compared to that. I was in crutches from a ski accident and cannot drive and he was driving an average of 900 km a day! We got back in Vancouver in exactly ten days with barely enough time to pick-up his air ticket and suitcase. There were also other spontaneous road adventures such as from Vancouver to California and back, eight times. We also had endless driving along the breathtaking Highway 101, particularly our favorite along the Oregon coast. Traveling from one small town to another, you see trees grow dense with green, views of mountain peaks and every so often there are deer, elks, eagles and sometimes even black bear. Looking at the vastness of the Pacific Ocean on a blue sky, it's just out of sight!

The road is always full of pinch- me moments and of course, farms, field, and small towns provide plenty of diversions worth stopping for especially if you have a weak bladder. The trip he wants to take now? Amid rushing rain drops, dark and gray clouds, and the passing blur of other vehicles. Certainly, there is a pressure to race to the Bay!

Meanwhile I sit and stew and think, are we there yet?